Large guns often use electric firing circuits to fire ordnance. These electric firing circuits must be tested to ensure that the circuit will apply the correct current and voltage to the ordnance primer. In order to test the firing circuits on guns it is necessary to load the gun with a test primer and then fire the weapon. If the primer explodes with an audible bang the firing circuit is good. This test must be repeated for each of the three or four firing control stations from which the gun may be fired in either the normal or emergency mode.
This method of testing does not provide feedback indicating whether the firing circuit is operating in the normal, alternating current (AC), mode or in the emergency, direct current (DC), mode. Additionally, for each test of the firing circuit the breech must be manually loaded with a primer test charge. Each time the breech is opened manually for the primer test fire there is a possibility of damage to the gun if the breech is opened before all the pressure is bled off. Also, due to the loud noise of the primer test firing numerous restrictions are placed on when and how test fires with primers may be conducted.
The present invention overcomes these deficiencies by replacing the old primer tester with an electronic tester. The electronic firing circuit tester (EFCT) is a microprocessor based tester. The tester requires no batteries as it draws the needed power directly from the firing pin of the gun to be tested. The EFCT is able to indicate whether the firing circuit was good or bad and whether the circuit was powered by AC or DC. After a short delay the EFCT will reset itself and may be reused.
The EFCT incorporates a microprocessor, or microcontroller, running embedded software with a unique method of calculating Root Mean Square (RMS). The software design allowed substantial processor memory space savings and increased speed over traditional software compiler RMS calculating functions.
Furthermore, the EFCT was designed so that it is capable of being loaded by automatic loaders that cycle the EFCT into position in the breech of the gun. The old primer based testing system required the primer to be manually loaded into the breech.